The common good, authority and the need for laws

The common good
Humans naturally need to live in groups

• This is both required explicitly by the basic good of sociability, and implicitly by all the other goods, because we are most productive when we are working together
• One of the nine requirements of practical reason is to foster the common good of the community

The common good is the situation where each member of the community can effectively pursue the basic goods for themselves

• Like the basic goods, the common good is never achieved, only participated in

Authority and the need for laws
To best achieve the common good, certain acts need to be performed by the whole community, for example, respect for each other's lives and safety

• These community-wide actions require coordination,…